Fire in the Thatch (1946) by E.C.R. Lorac

🔥 Chief Inspector Robert MacDonald has become my favorite police-detective since my first E.C.R Lorac: Murder in the Mill-Race. I like his methodical investigation and communication skill. In this case, MacDonald (or the Scotland Yard) was summoned to give his opinion on a burnt thatched cottage in a rural countryside at Mallory Fitzjohn, Devon; whether it was an accident or a foul play.

🔥 Nicholas Vaughan bought Little Thatch, a cottage belongs to Colonel St. Cyres, and planned to farm the land and renovate the cottage. Colonel St. Cyres and his daughter were pleased with their new tenant, a conscientious hardworking man, compared to his competitor, a gentleman from London called Mr. Gressingham. The later was recommended by June St. Cyres, the colonel's daughter-in-law, whom the colonel had dismissed (the proposal from the gentleman, not the daughter-in-law).

🔥 One day Little Thatched was on fire, and Vaughan was found killed inside. The local police marked the case as accident, but a navy captain who had been Vaughan's chief suspected a foul play. This is a mystery where the key to solve it lays in the personality of the victim - a field where Robert MacDonald is an expert of.

🔥 The mystery itself isn't very complicated. It lacks of suspects and surprises. June St. Cyres hasn't got an opportunity to be closely investigated by MacDonald, and I feel that she's there at all only to bring Gressingham and his London lot into the picture. However, the countryside atmosphere and the detailed description of Vaughan's farming infused a charm into this story. Vaughan has a pleasant personality; his relationship with the St. Cyreses is heartwarming. We are fortunate to enjoy these two elements long enough before the tragedy came into the picture.

🔥 All in all, it is another enjoyable murder mystery from Lorac.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐